Russian Strike Leaves Large Parts of Kyiv Without Water as Crews Race to Restore Services

On 30 October 2026, Ukraine’s Defense Forces utilized FP-1 drones to strike the Novokuibyshevsk oil refinery in Russia’s Samara Oblast, according to Ukrainian drone manufacturer Fire Point. One of the drones reportedly hit the refinery’s hydrotreats diesel fuel facility. This attack occurred hours after The Wall Street Journal reported that Ukraine had paused such strikes on Russian refineries under pressure from then-U.S.

President Donald Trump until after the U.S. midterm elections on 3 November. This pause came despite calls from Trump for Kyiv to cease the operations, which he blamed for driving up global fuel prices. The Samara strike marks the first such fire at a Russian refinery since Ukraine resumed its drone campaigns against Russian oil targets following a brief pause.

Reports of the attack emerged as early as dawn, with residents of Novokuibyshevsk reporting drone activity, explosions, and a fire. Ukrainian Telegram channel Exilenova+ posted the first photographs of the incident at 05:24 Kyiv time, which were later geolocated to the refinery by Russian channel Astra using open-source analysis of the residents’ photos.

By morning, Exilenova+ counted at least 11 separate fires at the refinery. Samara Governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev reported that air defense and mobile fire groups were successfully defending against the attack. The region had declared a drone alert and closed its airport in response. Fire Point confirmed that its FP-1 drones inflicted multiple hits on the refinery grounds, though footage showed smoke columns without clearly identifying which units burned.

The Rosneft-owned refinery, with a design capacity of 8.8 million tons of oil annually, is a key producer of jet fuel for Russia’s military.